Deal with the Devil
by toastandhoney
Summary: AU. It was just Amu's luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she's stuck with a certain demonic cat who does nothing but tease her and the search to find a way to free them both. AMUTO. ON A MINI-HIATUS.
1. Chapter :: 1

**Title: Deal with The Devil**

**Rating:** T (It will probably change later on)  
**Pairing: **Amuto: Amu x Ikuto**  
Genre: **Romance/Supernatural**  
Warnings: **Rated for language, blood and situations later on. Oh, and of course: severe raping of Japanese mythology. Be warned.**  
****Word count:** 5,619  
**Disclaimer: **No, I don't own _Shugo Chara!_

**Summary:** AU. It was just Amu's luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she's stuck with a certain demonic cat who does nothing but tease her and the search to find a way to free them both. And, you cannot forget the responsibility to take down the oh-so-evil Company that caused this all. AMUTO.

**A/N: **Yeahh, so this is my first fanfic I'll post here and one of the first I've written. So please, do review. I love those :3 And you want to make me happy, right? And this kind of streched... so please be patient and read to the end :3 And, yes, this is a multichappie one, but I don't know yet how many chapters I'm going to write. We'll see.

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**Chapter :: 1 :: Of Kidnappings and Beginnings**

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"Are you sure you don't want to come with us? You know, we could always call grandma and tell that you changed your mind and that you'd come too. I'm sure she would be happy..."

"It's okay mama, really, I'll be fine," Amu reassured her mother while lugging her little sister's suitcase towards the car which seemed like miles away – the damn suitcase was so heavy! Who would've thought such a little girl needed so much clothes – and only for a month in the countryside?

She wiped the sweat from her forehead and continued the struggle with the heavy piece of doom. She bet that her little sister had packed so much clothes only because she knew that her precious onee-chan would have to carry the freaking suitcase. She cursed the little angel who called herself her little sister.

"And besides, you shouldn't call to granny's cellphone that often," Amu told her mother. "She thinks the vibration means that it'll explode." She grinned at her. _And you know she prefers the snailmail anyways, _she added in her mind, remembering all the blisters she got from writing notably lengthy (read: extremely long and painful) letters in response.

Her mother gave her a smile and a quick hug. "Yeah, I know, I know. I'm just so worried about you. Remember that if anything happens, you can always call me or papa, or even Ami-chan if you'd like. And I asked Nobuko-san to keep an eye on you so you can turn to her if you have any troubles."

Amu cringed inwardly at the thought of Nobuko-san, their creepy fortunetelling neighbour keeping an eye on her. The old lady probably took it literally and dug an eye of nute from her Endless Supply of Weird Things™ and glued it onto her porch. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

They finally reached the car and Amu heaved the suitcase on top of a giant pink spare tire which was decorated by frilly lace. "You shouldn't worry that much, mama. For the umpteenth time, I'll be fine. I'm a big girl now-"

"Oh my little Amu-chan is all grown up!" her papa wailed, who had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Wasn't he supposed to do the last dishes before they left?

"Oh please," Amu sighed, exasperated, "you'll only be gone for a month or so. Not a big deal. Didn't you tell me you trust me? And besides, I only have vacation this week - I can't just skip school for three weeks straight." _The guilt trip and the conscientious student – they always worked_, she snickered in her mind.

Her mama and papa were looking at her with signs of defeat and Amu whooped silently in her mind.

"You shoudn't worry, Tsumugu-san, Midori-san," the fortuneteller, who had come to say goodbye, told them - and at the same time, scared Amu to the brink of death; what was it with people suddenly creeping up on her today? Did they want her to have a heart-attack? "I can clearly see that Amu will be fine..."

With that they looked relieved, until Nobuko added: "...and she even might discover something important, about herself, and about someone else..."

"What do you mean, important?" Amu queried, now interested what the ghastly mountainhag had to say.

"Hmm... Something very important... something great... something like love." She prophesized with a mysterious tinge to her voice.

Amu almost choked on her on spit and she cackled loudly, trying to breathe. "W-why are you suddenly springing up something like t-that? Are you implying I'll fall in love?" She asked, incredulous.

"Hmm... who knows...?" Nobuko replied distantly.

Amu furrowed her brow in frustration. Clearly the old lady had gone senile. Spouting such nonsense in the middle of a clear and a sunny day. Maybe the incense she burned at her house so often had finally muggled up her brain.

Amu turned and stilled at the hurt look on his papa's face. "Oh, Amu. I've always been dreading for this day, the day you'll grow wings and leave your nest... Ohh mama, this is so sad!"

"Bu..but I haven't done anything," she defended herself, a bit taken aback. This all made her want to tear her hair out of frustration.

"Yet," Nobuko added, smiling benevolently, even though she was being anything _but_.

After exchanging tight hugs and a dozen of reassurements on Amu's part, the car was finally able to leave.

"We'll call you everyday!" Her mother shouted from behind the window. Amu just nodded, having heard that already for a dozen of times.

"Have fun," she smiled back at them. "And don't forget to visit grandpa's grave for me, mmkay?"

Her mama nodded and finally, the car was off. Amu waved at them until the car swerved to the right and she couldn't see them anymore. She sighed and smiled hopelessly.

"What a big fuss for only a month... It's not like some life-changing event is gonna take place," she breathed, a little tired from all the hassling.

If only she would've stayed outside for a moment longer, she would've heard Nobuko say from the shadows of her porch: "That's what you think little girl, that's what you think... Love comes at inconvenient times, not when it suits you..."

**&&&  
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Amu faced her first problem late in the evening, when her stomach growled nastily.

"Oh geez, I totally forgot about food," she grumbled as she opened the fridge door only to face the agonizing nightmare of the hungry – the fridge was empty. There was some expired milk and natto, but those clearly weren't an option. "I guess I should go shopping..."

She quickly donned her old black sweatpants that had 'AMU-CHAN' printed on the backside and a random white hoodie with black and pink hearts, spades and clovers. She twirled her pink hair that reached her shoulder-blades into a simple bun and cursed the loose locks that decided not to comply. She sighed, but didn't bother to fix her hair anymore since there wasn't really any need to – she was only going to the grocery store after all.

She grabbed her keys and after making sure the door was locked, she left. She didn't bother to take the bike because the nearest grocery store was so close. It was dark outside, the clouds hung low at the sky, creating an ominous atmosphere. She shivered before starting a brisk pace, determined to get some cup ramen. Yes, cup ramen. You couldn't really blame her for not being a super chef like Suu or a wife-y - was that even a word? - guy like Nagihiko. She snickered when she remembered the disastrous outcome of the cooking lesson they had _tried_ to make her go through.

She slightly quickened her pace when she heard catcalls from some guys who loitered in front of the park near to their house. Oh, the inconvenience of being alone outside late at night. She lowered her eyes and sighed pitifully. How nice it would've been if she had someone beside her, to hold her hand, to cheer her up when she was down. Someone like Tadase-- no! Must...resist, she thought to herself frantically, slapping a hand on her forehead to enhance the effect.

Tadase had been her crush from elementary school, and now they already were sophomores in high school, and she still thought of him. How pathetic. He had hooked up with Ran, one of her best friends, in the beginning of the year. Ran had known that Amu had had a silly crush on Tadase, so she had repeatedly asked Amu if it was okay for her to date him. Of course Amu had told her she didn't like him anymore and that she should go for it, even though secretly, a tiny part of her had still liked Tadase.

Maybe it was destined for her to live her life alone and have multiple cats when she was old. Her neighbours would call her The Cat Lady and she would always give the children sour looks and they would run away from the immediate vicinity. She grimaced.

_Oh get a grip_, the level-headed part of her mind nagged at her. _It's not the end of the world if some guy doesn't like you back. And besides, you don't even like him anymore!_

All of her thoughts came to an abrupt halt when she reached the store, which, to Amu's immense displeasure, was closed. "Oh great," she groaned. This was just her luck! She stepped closer to peer at the small post-it note inside the glass that said with an almost illegible scrawl: "Closed for vacation".

It didn't help at all that while doing so, she had accidentally stepped on a puddle of water and now her left shoe and the leg of her sweatpants were drenched.

Oh this was perfect. Just perfect.

**&&&**

So what should she do now? There was a seven-eleven a bit farther out, but it was a cold night and the water was freezing her leg. It wouldn't do any good to go home and then leave for the seven-eleven – it would take too much time.

Everything seemed to go down the drain today. The pink haired girl glanced around, and when she was certain that there wasn't anybody around, she let out a frustated shriek that scared all the crows from the tree beside the store. She closed her eyes and pulled at her hair, ignoring the flapping sound the birds made when they flew away. "This _sucks_!" she continued, and started to stomp her foot like a little child (or more like Yaya), the drenched shoe making disgustingly squishy sounds. "No, _everything_ sucks! I freaking hate this – mmph!"

She was forcefully silenced when a big, clammy hand clamped on her mouth and another grabbed her waist from behind. "Shut up, you wench," a rough voice grumbled, belonging to a burly looking man who had caught her. She was so closely pressed to the man she could feel the rumbling when he spoke.

"Just be a nice girl and be quiet, _okay_?" another voice coaxed, coming from a thin, serpent-like man who slithered from the shadows. The men exchanged quick glances and started to drag her deeper into the city, into the maze of alleyways and dead-ends.

All this time, Amu was panicking, at a loss of what to do. She kicked and tried to scream, but it only made the man wind his arms tighter around her, making it hard to breathe. "Let me _go_! Somebody help!" her voice came out muffled though, so nobody could hear her. Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to formulate a plan to escape. What were these men after? What did they want to do with her? Why was this happening?

Her eyes started to water when she thought of the possibilities of why they had decided to kidnap her. She crunched her eyes close, desperately trying not to hyperventilate, not to panic. She trashed wildly one more time before her energy would wane out and she would be left to the mercy of the strange men. She flailed her arms, kicked the air and bit the hand silencing her, screaming all the while like a wild animal.

This had the thin man alerted too and he sneered at the girl. "Just give her the sedatives already, Ganjou-san. She's just being an annoyance." Clearly the thin man was the one in control.

"Right, Hebi-san. I just thought the demon would prefer her undrugged. They are so damn prideful animals anyway," the bigger man, apparently Ganjou-san, replied with a lopsided smirk. At the same time he removed his hand from Amu's mouth and dug a syringe from his jacket pocket and stuck it to Amu's arm before she could react. She snapped her head to stare in pure horror as the syringe was slowly being emptied on her arm. She could feel the pressure of something being slowly pushed in to her bloodstream, and a moment after, she started to feel a little lightheaded. The clink the syringe made when it was threwn away echoed in the alley, and made her feel even more dizzy.

She didn't even have time to panic when she felt her muscles loosen and her head loll back to rest on Ganjou-san's shoulder. Her breathing calmed down and her eyes drooped. She was completely vulnerable now, and if she could've, she would've curled into a tight ball.

She could still hear and see, but her thinking had considerably slowed down. She didn't understand everything the thin man, or Hebi-san, said.

"I don't care what the demon wants. It's just a stupid demon among plenty of others. Besides, the drug will wear out eventually, and we got clear orders from the top; get a human, hopefully a virgin," at this part, he stopped and eyed Amu with a sickening smile on his face, as if he had seen through her clothes. "And if the she resists, drug her. Then we take her to the destined place. Nothing less and nothing more. You wouldn't want to defy your orders at the very first week you work for The Company, right, Ganjou-san?" The thin man smiled cruelly.

Ganjou-san visibly gulped and nodded his head. "Right, Hebi-san."

Amu was feeling very confused. What was all that talk about demons and such? The rational part of her mind told her repeatedly, that demon's didn't exist, but she just shivered in fear at the thought of demons.

_I don't want to die yet_, was her last thought before the sedatives got to her and she passed out.

**&&&**

She had a terrible headache when she woke up - she wanted to grab her head but she was being held down by Ganjou-san a.k.a Mister Burly. She looked around and saw that they were in an alley, and the tiles were covered by dreadful paintings, symbols and text. Hebi-san a.k.a Mister Snakey was painting a huge pentagram on the ground with a bucket of red paint and a brush. _Talk about cliché_, she snickered silently. The amusement was replaced by dread when she smelled the paint – it smelled of _blood_. "That's disgusting," she said and wrinkled her nose.

"Like what you see, huh?" Snakey smirked.

"Not really.. I mean, with that big butt of yours in the way, the view isn't really the best." She deadpanned.

Snakey narrowed his eyes and Burly raised his eyebrows at her. "Mind your own business," Snakey hissed.

"Well, since you asked so nicely..." She muttered silently. She took notice that it was darker than before, so she figured it was about midnight.

She didn't know why she was so calm and composed now, compared to what she was like earlier. The panic had somehow subsided and she actually felt a little comfortable. There was just something about this alley that gave off this kind of warmth, a feeling of... kindness. There wasn't any better word to describe the feeling she got. She almost felt like she was being protected. Apparently though she was the only one who thought of this, because the men had decided for this alley to be the scene for their ugly deeds.

"Okay. This is done," Snakey said and got up from his crouch beside the pentagram. "Now I'll just chant and then you cut her and then – we get the hell out of here," he instructed his partner.

She was about to object, to ask what the hell was going on, when he took a script out from his jacket and started to read it aloud. The objection vanished the second he opened his mouth – she just stared there in awe as the words flowed from Snakey's mouth with suprising ease. This all was clearly very well rehearsed. The words sounded really old, and she didn't understand a thing. There were some recurring parts and after a while, Amu started to discern a pattern in the chant.

When the chant was over, Amu was in a daze and she didn't notice when Burly took a switchblade from his pocket. He dragged her in the center of the just-painted pentagram, and with a quick flick of his wrist, cut a deep gash on her left hand.

She cried out in pain and clutched her hand tightly against her chest. She heard, rather than saw the cowards running away from her, leaving her all alone in the dark and deserted alley. For many minutes, she just sat there on her knees, trying to gather herself and get up. The gash on her hand was bleeding, and the blood trickled down her arm until it dripped on the cold, hard ground. She tried to inspect the wound, but the blood flowing blocked her sight. She sighed heavily and tried to get up, to stop this ridiculous game, but it felt like her legs were glued to the pavement.

...actually, what was that smoky smell?

She looked down, and to her horror, the blood which had dropped on the ground, had started to sizzle and black smoke had started to twirl upwards.

What was going on? Was she hallucinating?

...it couldn't possibly be correct that a demon would appear... could it?

The smoke had started to twirl around her, first enveloping her feet, then the tendrils started to creep upwards her body - now covering half of her torso. She couldn't do anything, the dark matter was keeping her still, pressing and gently tugging her beneath the ground, enfolding her in a sweet embrace, coaxing her to go with the flow, to let go.

She was beginning to feel more relaxed, and she was ready to let go, until the unexpected happened.

Had one of the tendrils just slipped under and up her shirt?

Had it just _groped_ her?

"_What – the – hell?!"_ she exploded, fingers fisting that particular tendril, choking the life out of it. "What do you _think_ you are _doing_?!"

The tendril drooped a little, as if ashamed of what it had done. The visibly fake action just fueled Amu's anger.

"You – you! Make sure you don't do that again! And tell all your other tentacle-y friends too!" She shook the tendril maybe a bit too harshly, but she hoped it worked.

"You do understand how insane you look at the moment, right?" a deep, mysteriously lilting voice said.

This had Amu look up with a suprised look, which later turned into one of horror - the tendrils had gathered together and formed a vaguely human-shaped smokey pillar. She could only stare in dread as the figure came more and more pronounced, until there was a young, blue-haired and blue-eyed man standing directly in front of her.

Buck naked.

There was a few moments of silence before Amu threw her hands over her eyes, blushing profusely, and at the same time, effectively smudging the left side of her face with blood.

What the hell was going on?

**&&&**

"Okay... so you tell me that you're a demon and that demons are a just a different species living together with the humans in this world - without the humans knowing anything of it?" Amu paced before the young man, who was sitting on the ground and who now had her hoodie tied on his waist.

"Well, yes, except for the government. They know mostly everything. They want to hide it from people – I mean, could you imagine the chaos the people would be in if they found out about us? If they found out that there actually is a far more superior species in the planet? They would be completely terrified."

"Err, right. Then you also say that every hundred years the demons can be summoned and be bound to humans to achieve... greater power? Just... what _the hell_, really? That is the most corny thing I have _ever_ heard. Do you actually expect me to believe that?" She took a longer glance at the alley and continued. You could practically see the vein popping on her head. "Is this some kind of prank? Are we on television or something?" She inspected the alley walls for something even she didn't know.

"Look. All I know is that I'm not lying. I don't know why this is happening. The summonings shouldn't have started yet. But now that I mentioned it, I did hear rumors about few cases of demons being summoned already... But there's one thing I don't understand at all. You say you were kidnapped?"

"Yes," Amu snapped impatiently.

"Strange..." He quieted down and fell into his own thoughts.

Amu's patience was wearing thin. There was guy sitting in front of her, who had seeminlgy appeared out of nowhere and who was claiming to be a demon? Since when had her little peaceful town been so full of lunatics? She sighed and rubbed her temples. What should she do? She couldn't just leave him here... Maybe she could give him the directions to the insane asylum? Or maybe not – she doubted he would go there willingly, as he seemed to believe his own story so strongly. She doubted she had ever been so lost as she was now.

"...So what do you expect me to do now?" She started desperately. " Admit that you're a demon? Take you to the madhouse? Take you to the police?" She slid down the wall and slumped to the ground, knees scraping the grainy asphalt. "And I can't just leave you here, my conscience tells me otherwise. Just- it's just- AARGH! I don't know what to do!" She screamed, her fingers fisting her hair, effectively loosening the bun.

The whole day – or night – had been so screwed up Amu didn't know what to think.

Firstly, she had been kidnapped.

Then she had been taken to some strange alley which was full of freaky paintings.

Then her kidnappers had recited some weird things and left her alone in the alley, with a nasty gash on her hand.

Then this bizarre, naked stranger had appeared with a cloud of smoke and now claimed to be a demon.

This was utterly, and ultimately the _weirdest_ and _terrifying_ day of Amu's life.

Or night, actually.

Amu glanced at the starry sky and sighed. Maybe some information about the stranger wouldn't hurt.

"So, who are you?" She asked and fixed her eyes on him.

The stranger smiled a little. "The name's Tsukiyomi Ikuto. Nice to meet you."

"Tsukuyomi? The god of the moon?"

"Not Tsukuyomi, Tsukiyomi."

"Well, that's practically the same thing, just a different spelling," Amu argued. "It's a brave name for a man to bear."

"Well, I'm not a normal man of your kind. As I said before, I'm a demon."

"Then tell me more about you lots, moon boy."

The said man raised an eyebrow at her demanding tone and the nickname, but started nonetheless.

"There's a whole community of us. We're living with you humans, but we're just disguised. So don't even think about saying that we live in hell or some place else. I'd bet you'd be suprised if I told you who actually were demons and not humans.

"I honestly don't even know why we're being called demons. We've had a lot of names; demons, angels, fairies, elves and so on. Nowadays the word 'demon' is just settled, I guess."

Amu blinked and you could almost feel the confusion radiate of her. Had he actually said that demons, angels and fairies were all the same thing? The same race?

A disturbing image of the man in a tinkerbell costume floated into her mind and she cackled.

The said man looked at her weirdly before continuing his explanation.

"We are physically stronger that you are, and almost every one of us have some kinds of magical powers – it depends if you trained them or if you focused more on the physical side. And of course every demon has animalistic qualities."

All the info was sinking into Amu's brain, when they heard a crash from the alley opening. They both snapped their heads towards the sound and they got up, alert.

A trash bin had been kicked against the wall and dust and sand had risen from the ground to hinder their vision.

When the dust settled Amu let out a small gasp in horror. There was a red, really buffed-up looking creature, who was wearing a loincloth. It sort of looked like a human, but the red skin, fangs, and the number of eyes indicated something else.

There were four eyes.

And now that she looked, it had ten toes in each feet.

And it didn't help that it was _growling_ and staring at the man beside her ferociously.

Amu gulped visibly. "Wh-what is that?" She asked shakily.

"It's an Oni."

"Oni? As in an ogre?"

"Bingo."

There was a moment of silence

"_Whaaat?! They exist?!!_ I thought they were just a part of the folklore to scare the children!"

"Almost everything you were told when you were little, are true. "

Amu blanched. "Even the boogieman under my bed?"

"Even the boogieman," he nodded.

As horror dawned on her face, the man burst out laughing. "I was just kidding," he laughed out. "About the boogieman."

"But the folklore is true?"

"Mostly. But not everything of it is."

The Oni seemingly got upset about their little chit-chat, so it roared mightily, swung an iron bat over it's head, as if declaring war, and charged.

Only a moment after Amu realized, that it actually _was _declaring war.

She didn't have time to run away, so she did the most natural thing a girl would do in such a situation.

She screamed.

She crunched her eyes close and drew back in herself, hunching shoulders and clamping her hands over her face. She waited for the impact of the club in dread and screamed all the while. When she ran out of breath, she quickly drew in more air to scream again, but she was stopped by an amused voice.

"Are you done screaming now?"

Now when she thought about it, she should've been hit already.

She slowly pried her fingers off her face and opened her other eye. When she saw no immediate danger, she opened the other one, looked beside her and froze.

Standing there was moon boy, completely at ease, and he was dangling the gruesome Oni from the neck, like it was a daily occurence, like it was completely normal.

You could say she was a weeny bit disoriented. It's not like this happens to _you_ every day now is it?

"Wh- wha-" she choked, trying to get out a coherent sentence, which was proving to be extremely difficult. "How?" She finally cackled out.

"I told you, I'm a demon."

The idea, that a more superior race had evolved when humans were too, seemed just so incomprehensible.

But there he was, holding another supernatural creature by the neck.

It seemed that... he was telling the truth all along. That there actually was another species, a superior one, on this planet. And apparently, folklore beings too.

She looked at him with an inspecting gaze. Now that she looked at him more closely, she noticed how brilliantly blue his eyes were – no human could have as beautiful eyes as those were. She noticed his abnormally pale skin and the powerful, prideful aura he seemed to emit. She watched as his muscles constricted and moved under his skin gracefully when he crushed the neck of the ogre and the supernatural being turned to red dust – wait, _what?!_

She recoiled and her eyes widened. The whole being just vanished into the thin air as the wind picked up the little pieces and took them away.

"Did you kill it?" She asked, wide-eyed.

"No. I can't kill those in my current condition. I just sent it back from where it came from. And besides, killing isn't really my thing."

"Oh." She didn't know what to say.

"So you believe me now?" He smirked.

"I don't have another choice, now do I?" She responsed, a bit vexed she had to admit it to him.

"Nope you don't, little girl," he answered with a devilish smirk.

"I have a name too, you know."

"Then maybe we should go through the proper introductions again," he smiled. "Tsukiyomi Ikuto. Nice to meet you." He extended his hand for her to grasp.

"Amaterasu Hanako. Nice to meet you too," she joked.

"Har har har. I look like I'm laughing right?"

She just grinned. "No, I'm Hinamori Amu, nice to meetcha." She grasped his hand and gave it a firm shake.

"Well then _Amu-chan_," he said while staring pointedly at her butt which had her name printed on it. "Welcome to my world."

**&&&**

**A/N: **Finally the first chapter is done! It kind of streched and... well.. I congratulate you if you read to the end *confetti rains down* 8D And yeshh, I looovve reviews. They make my day :3

NOTESSSSS:

General:  
Natto = fermented soybeans  
Ramen = noodle soup (every narutard should know this XD)

Japanese Mythology:  
Tsukuyomi = the God of the Moon  
Amaterasu = the Goddess of the Sun, Tsukuyomi's sister  
Oni = an ogre, or a similar monster

The Amaterasu Hanako thing is just that Amu is making fun of Ikuto's last name, if you didn't get it. Hanako is a typical Japanese girl name she just added.

I've written, rewritten and rewritten _again_ every part, and I'm too lazy to do so anymore, so blame my laziness 8DD And please give me constructive criticism so I can become a better writer. Cause now I suck 8 But, practice makes you better, right?

Oh and please take in to notice that I'm not a native speaker, and english is a foreign language to me... So if you see any grammar mistakes, please inform me! Thanks in advance 8D

I'll post the next chappie here when it's done, so I don't know how long that's going to take. The other chapters prolly won't be as long as this though.


	2. Chapter :: 2

**Title: Deal with The Devil**

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Rating: **T (prolly will change though)**  
Pairing: **Amuto: Amu x Ikuto**  
Genre: **Romance/Supernatural**  
Warnings: **Rated for language, blood and situations. Oh, and of course: severe raping of Japanese mythology.**  
Word Count:** 3,982**  
Disclaimer: **No, I don't own _Shugo Chara!_ Nor its lovely characters.

**Summary:** AU. It was just Amu's luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Now she's stuck with a certain demonic cat who does nothing but tease her and the search to find a way to free them both. And, you cannot forget the responsibility to take down the oh-so-evil Company that caused this all. AMUTO.

**A/N:** Guys, I am SO SORRY, that this came out so late! Please don't kill me! * begs on knees *  
I was meant to update sooner, but I didn't get the chance to write that much. So!  
The second chapterrrrrr! Yayyyy~ If it seems confusing, don't worry, it'll get better... at some point....

I want to thank every one who alerted and faved this story, and especially the reviewers; **HlorkexD**, **icelight11**, **Meep Forever**, **chocolistic** and **amutoamutoikutosydney**! You made me so happy to know what you really thought about my fic! Again, thank you! :3 But now, onto the story!

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**Chapter :: 2 :: Of Coffee and Sore Feet**

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Amu shifted in her bed and rubbed her eyes – the shining light that was pouring in from her balcony window was so bright that it hurt her eyes.

"Please light, go away," she grumbled in discomfort. Why was it that the sun always rose so early in the morning? She yawned and streched her arms above her head to ease the pain in her shoulders – when had they gotten so sore?

Her eyebrows knitted together when she started to think about the day before – though she abandoned the task immediately when the thinking made her wince in pain. What on earth had happened to make her head feel like she had been hit by a truck loaded with canned asparagus? Yes, she did have a grudge against those vile, obnoxious _things_ that her mother just happened to love. Oh joy. But that was a story for another time, because now she had to have a handful of painkillers, or otherwise she was sure she was going to throw up.

"Ughh," she groaned and held her head with her other hand while she tossed the bed covers off and got up from the warm and comfortable bed. "Painkillers, painkillers. Right," she headed towards the bathroom downstairs, where she was sure she had last seen the precious aspirin pills.

She had to watch her step in the stairs because she had more than once slipped and hit her head – a thing she was constantly teased about by her friends and family. They joked about how it had seriously affected her brain. Sometimes, even she thought they were right – like now for instance. What had she done to get this freaking headache?

She walked past the living room and the kitchen of which door was slightly ajar, straight to the bathroom. She dug around the cabinets for a while before she found the container, took a pill and swallowed it with a handful of water. _Oh the heck with it_, she thought and took another one. It's not like the side-effects would bother her – she could handle a bit of light-headedness. She brushed her teeth to get rid of the vile aftertaste of the pills and washed her face. The cold water cleared her head nicely.

She suddenly felt a pang of confusion that had nothing to do with the drugs. When she had passed the kitchen, hadn't she heard the dripping sound of the coffeemaker? She frowned. She hadn't put it on, right?

Her eyes widened. Maybe some crazy stalker had thought to come up to set up a tea party for her to attend. She looked for a weapon she could use incase of this weird incident. Her eyes flicked around the bathroom, and finally found Ami's pink umbrella which was decorated by multiple teddy prints.

How intimidating. She was sure the possible assaulter would wet his pants in fear. She harrumphed but picked it up, as she still could use it as a weapon if it came to the worst.

She silently tiptoed her way out of the bathroom, and as stealthily as she could – which wasn't much – she sneaked behind the kitchen door that was partially open.

The bubbly laughter of Ran, Miki and Suu floated from the kithcen, and Amu sighed in relief. She lowered her umbrella from the threatening (or so she wished) position, and opened the door fully to step in the room to join her friends, only to freeze in the doorway.

Sure, there was Ran, Miki and Suu, but there also was a blue-haired man sitting with them on the opposite side of the table. A beautiful, very familiar looking man.

It all came rushing back to her.

The kidnapping.

The summoning.

Tsukiyomi Ikuto.

A _demon_.

And now there he was, sitting by her table, sipping coffee and chatting with her friends who, apparently, were swooning at his every word.

She had to lean on the wall with her other hand, or otherwise her knees would have buckled. It all had happened. It all was real. She had a demon in her house. A demon who now was smirking at her in an infuratingly attractive way.

"Amu!" Ran screamed. "You're finally awake! Come sit here and have coffee with us!"

The energetic screams of hers made Amu's head hurt even more and she winced, but knowing Ran, she obediently sat down on one of the chairs.

Ran looked at her oddly. "Why are you holding an umbrella? Oh well, Never mind. Now! Tell me how you met and when! For how long have you two dated?" She ushered in glee and looked between Amu and Ikuto expectantly.

"Yeah Amu, why didn't you tell us?" Suu asked, a little hurt.

Ran started to bubble about Amu being stupid for not telling how she had caught herself such a gorgeus gentleman, and how that was even possible for Amu, since she was such a cold fish.

Amu almost choked on her on spit. They thought they were _dating_? What?! And what comment was that about her being a cold fish?! She made a mental note to strangle Ran later. While she was sputtering and trying to breathe, Miki piped in.

"Ran, give the poor girl some space. Are you even sure they are together?"

While Amu was busy thanking Miki in her mind, and deciding to buy her an extra ice-cream the next time they went out to have some, her friends started to have an extremely disturbing discussion about her lovelife.

"Of course they're together! What else would Tsukiyomi-san do here eight in the morning!" They giggled.

"Unless Amu decided to be irresponsible and promiscuous for once and have a one-night stand!" Miki gushed in mock shock, now believing in the ridiculous assumption of them being together. _Say goodbye to your extra ice-cream_, Amu thought peevedly.

They continued their discussion in an R-rated manner, and while Amu was trying to get a word in, Ikuto was just smiling and nodding along the girls, which did nothing to disperse the gruesome misunderstanding they were oh-so fond of.

"G-guys! Stop talking like I'm not here. Someday, I swear you're going to give me a cardiac arrest," Amu complained.

"You simply couldn't just say 'a heart attack' could you?" Miki asked with a raised eyebrow, amused by her choice of words.

"They're not the same thing. A heart attack is called a myocardial infarction. A cardiac arrest can be _caused_ by-"

"Okay, enough with you and your health studies. Tell me how you two met! I bet it's somewhere romantic, like that wonderful italian cafe, that makes the awesomest coffee ever," Ran started to babble. "So, where did you meet?"

"Uhh..." Amu mumbled. What the hell should she say? "It's this... you see...-"

"We met on a dark alley by the brink of midnight, where I was the blood-sucking vampire and she was the hapless victim." Ikuto said. Well, it's not like it was that far-fetched answer.

The girls blinked for a few moments, before bursting out in raucous laughter.

"You have such a good humor!"

"This one's a keeper, Amu!"

They continued to praise Ikuto to the high heavens, while Amu just sat there, sweat-dropping.

The girls were recovering from their fit, wiping tears from the corners of their eyes, when Suu's cellphone started ringing.

"Oh, we totally forgot! We have pilates class today! In about... five minutes!"

They speedily scurried around, picked up their bags and donned their sweaters.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, Tsukiyomi-san!" they said to Ikuto. "And Amu," Ran shot her a particularly meaningful glance, "we will talk about this later."

Amu visibly gulped in horror, quickly nodding in agreement. She could only think of the horrifying drill she was going to get when they were alone – Amu was one of their best friends, and they had to know all of the details of their supposed relationship.

They hurried to the front door and with the last call out of "Remember kids, safe sex!" and giggling, they were out of the house.

Needless to say, Amu was absolutely _mortified_. And pink. Never forget the pink.

**&&&**

"What are you doing here?" she seethed in her chair, silently murdering him with her deathly gaze. _If only looks could kill..._

He just calmly sat there, sipped his ever-precious coffee and answered with an unwavering, twinkling gaze. He clearly was amused by her antics.

"What am I doing here, you ask?" he mused as if he was the best actor ever of Hamlet, pondering the mighty questions of life. "Why do you think I'm here?"

"Don't answer back with another question!" she snapped at him indignantly. "What even happened yesterday after... after that Oni?"

He placed the light-green mug with frog prints on the table and ran a hand through his dark blue hair. "It's simple. You kind of passed out."

Now this had Amu's attention. She had never, _ever_ passed out in her life before. Why had she now? Her mouth curved into a frown and she scratched her head in confusion.

"Well actually, you didn't really faint, you just kind of... went slack. You had lost a lot of blood that night, and I take it you hadn't eaten that much?"

Amu nodded. Now this made sense.

"So I asked directions from you and I carried you here."

"You carried me?"

"Yeah, but it was hard though – you almost fell to sleep on they way here and I had to slap you many times to keep you awake," he smirked mischievously.

Amu blanched. "And where exactly did you slap me...?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

He just smirked wider. "Wouldn't you like to know."

She blinked.

"You pervert! You perverted cat-ears guy!" The pink-haired girl slapped him with her umbrella that she had abandoned before.

"Relax, I didn't do anything to you. Just how lowly do you think I am?" He defended himself. "And besides, you're fun to tease – your face flushes that lovely shade of red, just like now."

She could feel the heat rise on her face, and she was sure she was as pink as he had hinted. Damn that stupid blood circulation system, that just seemed to love to embarass her by declaring it's presence in the most inconvenient times.

She tried to hide the redness of her face by scratching her forehead – only then did she notice that her hand was bandaged, and quite skillfully, too.

"Y- you did this...?"

"Sure," he answered with a quirk on his lips, that for once wasn't mischievous, but actually just kind.

She smiled. "Then, thank you," she bowed her head a little. "I owe you a lot, for you carrying me and bandaging me. Thank you."

He was a bit surprised she could change her mood so quickly from vexed to grateful, and he was starting to smile, until he heard the inevitable - as such was her character.

"But you still need to get out of my house."

He was definitely starting to see a pattern in her behavior.

"Amu... It's not that simple," Ikuto started to explain. He sighed and rubbed his temples – he was sure Amu was going to have a fit.

"I'm going to make this short. When demons are summoned by humans, there is always _someone_ whose blood is used to summon the demon, someone who we usually call _the sacrifice_.

"The sacrifice's job is simple - to provide the demon food and shelter. You still with me?"

Amu nodded, concentrating attentively on his words, drinking in the information like a thirsty man in the desert. Ever since she was little, she had wanted to know things, wanted to find more about the world. It was one lucky trait she possessed – she didn't have to read for her exams so much that way.

He nodded in response. "When the blood is used to summon the demon, it is a solid contract. A blood bond has formed between the demon and the sacrifice - there is no going back.

"This blood bond ensures that the demon will get his needs fulfilled – after some time, the sacrifice becomes attached to the demon because of this bond, and it affects the demon too.

"The bond enables the sharing of emotions and other nice things, hence why the two participants will become fond of each other. Many times they even grow so attached, that they eventually become mates.

"Unfortunately, there is also a downside to this." He sighed again - clearly she was going to hear something not that good.

"You see... Demons live longer than humans. That's a widely known fact, even though the reputation of demons has changed into blood-hungry mass-murdering folk.

"So that's where the finalizing of the bond comes into play. That... takes the mortality of the sacrifice, and so the sacrifice will no longer be human, but one of us. That way the sacrifice will live as long as the demon will.

"The thing is, you can't choose, if you take the finalizing or not. Eventually it has to be done, or both participants will suffer greatly and become only shadows of their past selves."

He closed his eyes. "And with our case, it's completely the same. I am the demon and you're the sacrifice."

There. He had said it. There still was many things to be said, but this was one of the most improtant things he needed to tell her. They had to do the finalizing, but that would mean that she would have to throw away her life as a human, she would have to get involved with the demon world, that was caught up in a blossoming civil war right now.

She would have to live longer than her family, longer than her friends, and watch as they age and wither when she herself would stay young for a long time.

Amu would never live a normal life.

She let out a breath and buried her face in her hands. This was all beginning to be too much for her to take. "Why? Why me..." She silently wailed.

"Why is this happening to me? Just..." She didn't know what to do. "There must be a way! There must be! They can't leave me like this! There has to be a solution!" She didn't want this. She wanted to be a human, wanted to lead a normal life, maybe have a couple of kids along the way and... She didn't want this! Why was this happening? She didn't even know the man!

It seemed that there was no choice, that they had to strip her from her mortality, rip the last bits of normality from her life.

If only she hadn't gone out yesterday, if only she would have eaten the natto and left to the store the next day. It all depended on bad timing. Her life.

"...how long?" she asked, face turned downwards, staring at her hands that were hidden under the table.

"Excuse me? How long what?"

"How long does it take before we have to do the finalizing?" She turned her head towards him.

"Oh... Well, I think we would last for a couple of years. It all depends on how strong we are then - the temptation to give in will be strong towards the end." Ikuto didn't look happy either. He didn't want to force this on Amu, that pretty pink-haired girl with golden eyes. He wasn't one of those more cruel demons who enjoyed the suffering of others, who were to blame for the bad reputation their people had. Not that it was a bad thing – it had brought them peace and protection from humans.

Humans. The lovely girl in front of him would never live a normal happy human life.

Amu nodded when he heard his response. Ikuto was pitying her, she knew that. And she hated it. She hated the look he gave him, the sad look that was directed at her misfortune.

She wouldn't deal with that. She wouldn't deal with _this_, damnit! Sure, she could accept to look after a demon, but to turn one herself? No. Just, no!

The chair made a scraping sound when it was pushed backwards and Ikuto winced at the loud sound. He looked up in confusion at her, wondering why she had stood up.

He gasped when she looked at her in the eyes – they were shining with newfound determination, and she was positively glowing.

"I _am_ going to find a way. No one can stop me, no one! We _will_ be freed from this.. this _curse_, and I am damn right going to _make that happen!_" She stated powerfully. Her resolution even shook Ikuto, it was so _fierce_.

Maybe their bond already started to show itself – the way her emotions flowed out of her into him was breathtaking. He could just taste her feelings, feel them like his own. He gasped and gripped the table to calm himself down.

"Then I'll help you." He didn't want this either. "I'll help you look for a way. But on one condition."

Amu looked at him expectantly. "Yes?"

"You still take care of the sacrifice's job. You'll feed me and provide me shelter." He couldn't go back to his world just yet.

Amu watched him intently for a while, looking for ulterior motives. When she found none, she nodded. "That's a deal."

They shook hands as a sign of a contract.

"There's the fridge and the couch is in the living room. You can sleep there until my family comes home from their vacation. Then we have to figure out something else."

**&&&**

They were sitting on the couch, flipping idly the channels on the tv, surfing mindlessly, when Amu turned to him.

"Tell me more about demons. I want to know more. And I bet it'll help in The Great Search." After their serious conversation, she had cheerfully dubbed their search for the solution as 'The Great Search'. In Ikutos opinion, it sounded like a cheap pirate movie or something.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"Humm... Now that you live under my roof, I'd like to know what's your favorite food? What do you demons enjoy to eat, anyway?"

At this, Ikuto gave a big smirk that kind of frightened her.

"What?"

His smirk only widened. "There are many kinds of demons... Each have their own eating habits."

"There are? Tell me more about it."

"Well, I belong to the Tsukiyomi clan, so I'm a cat demon. Meow." He made a pawing motion with his hand.

Amu grinned at him. Even though he was infuriating at times, he knew how to be nice too. "What other demons are there? And what do you like to eat? Fish and milk?"

"You have lots of questions, girl. There are really many demons... I can't even remember all of them - there are so many clans. There are many animalistic demons, and of course your basic fairytale demons aren't always that far off... And the eating, it's not always that tangible," he grinned.

"...not that tangible?" Amu frowned. What was he talking about?

"We demons, we eat normal food too, yes... But I specifically said that you have to feed me, right?"

Amu didn't like the direction this was going. "..yes...?"

"We also eat pleasure."

The silence was deafening.

"...You're kidding, right?"

"Nope, I'm not. And in fact, I'm a bit hungry.."

Amu glared at him with vehemence he didn't think was possible from the pink-haired girl.

"We have a deal. So you just have to endure this. You can start off with rubbing my feet - they're sore. All thanks to you, since carrying you was quite the tedious task – I never knew girls could weigh that much." He replied stingily. Ikuto 1 – Amu 0! Scooreeeee!

Needless to say, some time later Ikuto was decorated by multiple bruises and even more sore feet.

**&&&**

**A/N:** So this was chapter 2! I Hope you liked it ^^ This was kind of a "bridge" chapter, so all the fun will begin in the next chapters. And once again, sorry for the delay! I'll update the other chapters sooner.  
This was kind of short, sorry for that. The next one will hopefully be longer.

Thanks for all the reviews, faves and alerts! They make me so happy ^_^

Liked it, hated it – tell me your opinion with a review 8)


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